outspread
Americanverb (used with or without object)
adjective
-
spread out; stretched out.
outspread arms.
-
diffused abroad; widely disseminated.
The outspread news had traveled quickly.
noun
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the act of spreading out; expansion.
the rapid outspread of the early American colonists.
-
something that is spread out; an expanse.
a vast outspread of rich farmland.
verb
adjective
-
spread or stretched out
-
scattered or diffused widely
noun
Etymology
Origin of outspread
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
At the top is an enamelled dove with outspread wings, which represents the Holy Ghost.
From Reuters ● May 5, 2023
We all wish we could still run into the outspread arms of the father we lost.
From Salon ● Nov. 23, 2022
Each crater held a single, stolid icefish, dark pectoral fins outspread like bat wings over a clutch of eggs.
From New York Times ● Jan. 13, 2022
She then raised her outspread arms, thunder roared, lightning bolts flashed and — in some versions of the commercial — wild animals stampeded.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 25, 2020
The captain spread his hand open, the thumb up and fingers outspread as when you make shadow pictures.
From "A Farewell To Arms" by Ernest Hemingway
I dreamed a world where all seemed first-created outspreading bird cherries in the dewfall with blackbirds and nightingales crowded.
From Time Magazine Archive
In four years he has made Brooklyn's farm system baseball's biggest, outspreading the famed St. Louis Cardinals' system, which he built.
From Time Magazine Archive
As I am a better man, the more soluble is the great outspreading riddle of nature, and the more distinct and full the delicate grace of art.
From Early Letters of George Wm. Curtis by Cooke, George Willis
On one of the long outspreading branches I saw a couple of large combs hanging down, of a black colour.
From In the Eastern Seas by Kingston, William Henry Giles
The wheels were supplemented by aeroplanes, resembling huge outspreading wings, inclined at an angle, so that their forward rush upon the air supported the ship.
From The Goddess of Atvatabar Being the history of the discovery of the interior world and conquest of Atvatabar by Bradshaw, William Richard
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
